Dental cleaning agents are on the market in various forms and serve primarily to clean the tooth surface and to prevent tooth and gum diseases. They typically include a combination of polishing agents, humectants, surfactants, binders, flavoring agents, and fluoride-containing and antimicrobial active substances. Apart from tooth powders, which play a minor role because of their increased abrasiveness, dental cleaning agents are offered primarily in paste, cream, and translucent or transparent gel form. Liquid dental creams and mouthwashes have also become increasingly important in recent years.
Many people desire white teeth and perceive dark or stained teeth as cosmetically unacceptable. The maintenance of the natural tooth color is not always successful, however, despite regular dental hygiene. Dietary habits or smoking can lead to tooth discoloration. Likewise, the colonization of the tooth surface by bacteria (plaque) leads to discoloration.
A number of technical solutions for plaque removal or whitening of teeth were developed. Peroxide is used primarily for whitening/bleaching. Peroxide is used in high concentrations in professional bleaching products, whereas use in cosmetic products for oral and dental hygiene is limited to 0.1% peroxide. Peroxide in this concentration has only a limited whitening effect and often does not eliminate tooth discoloration to the desired extent.
Another option for whitening teeth is the effective removal of plaque, which makes teeth appear darker. This method of tooth whitening is also described as “natural whitening.” A high cleaning performance is best achieved by cleaning substances, for example, silica, alumina, or calcium carbonate in combination with a surfactant. Unfortunately, dental creams with an effective system of one or more cleaning substances often also have a high abrasiveness, and therefore often lead to a certain, albeit very low abrasion of the tooth surface. This can be particularly disadvantageous, when the tooth enamel is already thin, as is the case in people with sensitive teeth. Exposed tooth necks also occur often in individuals with sensitive teeth, therefore the portions of the tooth in the immediate vicinity of the gum where no enamel is present as a protective layer and the underlying dentin is exposed.
Moreover, immediately after teeth cleaning, a protein layer (pellicle) forms on the tooth material on which layer plaque builds up or discolorations accumulate.
There is a need, therefore, for toothpastes that achieve an effective cleaning and whitening but at the same time produce a long-term effect, i.e., prevent or reduce as long as possible the formation of new plaque and thereby new discolorations.
The object of the present invention was to provide preparations for oral and dental hygiene and cleaning that achieve effective cleaning and whitening and thereby prevent or reduce new discolorations as long as possible.
It was now found surprisingly that a combination of two polymers with certain abrasive substances has the result that stains (e.g., from food, particularly tea stains) are less evident. The gentle cleaning by such a combination is supplemented with a long-term effect against restaining.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.